Italy, Romanians And Xenophobia
Yesterday I posted about a crackdown in Italy aimed at ejecting Romanians with criminal backgrounds. I pointed out:
Italy has long allowed foreign workers and has toed the European line on tolerance and political correctness. But they are only a few crimes away from outright xenophobia and mass thuggery against an ethnic group. That must not be allowed to happen in the United States.
The situation has deteriorated in the past 24 hours and things in Italy are getting considerably worse:
ROME - Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi urged Italy to close its borders to Romanian workers and a conservative ally called Sunday for the expulsion of tens of thousands of immigrants amid public outrage over a wave of violent crimes blamed on foreigners.
Pope Benedict XVI added his voice to the debate over the balance between citizen safety and treatment of foreigners, reminding authorities that immigrants have both obligations and rights.
The pope weighed in as lawmakers prepared to debate the government's response to recent crime, including fast-track expulsions of Romanians and other EU citizens deemed dangerous and bulldozing shantytowns housing immigrants.
"In Rome alone, 20,000 expulsions should be carried out right away," right-wing leader Gianfranco Fini, a key Berlusconi ally, said on a TV talk show Sunday.
Romanians have been detained as suspects in several recent high-profile crimes, including the rape of a woman on church steps in northern Italy, a mugging that left a Rome cyclist in a coma for weeks before he died, and the robbery of a Milan coffee bar in which the elderly owner was beaten and her daughter raped.
Other recent crimes in which foreigners are suspected include the mugging of Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore, which sent him to the hospital; the holdup of a prominent TV anchorman and the mugging of a Rome municipal commissioner.
Berlusconi told La Stampa newspaper that Italy should enact a moratorium against Romanian workers.
We must get control of our own borders in this country, unless we want a situation like this to develop. People with criminal records - and criminal intent - flooding across a border to find new pickings is a real concern. The vast majority of Romanians going into Italy are intent only on getting work - not finding victims. But the few bad actors are causing real problems for the majority. Those bad actors are, in turn, provoking a vicious backlash against all Romanians.
That must not happen here. High fence, wide gate, hearty welcome for those who play by the rules. No entry for criminals. It protects the people who live here legally; it protects the people who come here with good intentions; it is a sound policy and just good common sense.
Immigration Reform | Gaius Sunday, 4 November , 2007
By joe, Monday, 5 November , 2007 @ 6:22 am
‘One bad apple rottens all the other good apples’ a saying that society never seems to understands. It’s only right to work in another country when you have fulfilled all thier requirements ‘the working contract’ only when you have this than you are allowed to enter into a country which should be practised.
There was a big mistake don in Romania for letting the people to travel with their ‘identity cards’ this is not a travel document than what is the purpose of a ‘passport’?.
Joe
By Wayne, Monday, 5 November , 2007 @ 4:13 pm
I have just posted on my blog an article about the true racists in the illegal immigration debate. They are not those who want to stop illegal immigration but are in fact those who want illegal immigration to have a group of exploitable people.
By Gaius, Monday, 5 November , 2007 @ 6:44 pm
Actually, you’re right, Wayne. Being worried about people here illegally is not racism. Trying to get a permanent serf class sure as hell is.